Thursday, April 18, 2013

The OTHER Singing Ricin Terrorist

The recent news about the wack-job Elvis (and others) impersonator sending politicians envelopes laced with deadly ricin reminded me of the pioneer of this genre, Robert Alberg. When we wrote about him some years ago, he was being sentenced to five years' probation, mental-health treatment and
placement in a group home, and his album was no longer available, so I posted it. Incredibly, he's back, selling both his original collection, and a new one. And he sounds even worse than he did on his miserable first album (as you can see, he isn't looking too hot either). Still, let's hope he sticks to singing/song-writing, and doesn't go back to ricin-cooking."Purple Amethyst," available thru Amazon and iTunes, is ten "songs" of lethargic, monotone vocals; obsessive/compulsive lyrics (about sand, beaches, rocks); and atonal guitar "playing" that makes Jandek's sound like Eric Clapton. Need I tell you that this is outsider-music gold? Robert Alberg: "Quartz Creek"As he is back to selling copies of his first album, I'll just post of couple of tracks from it:Robert Alberg: "I Want To Fly"Robert Alberg: "Walking Alone On The Sand"The videos of Alberg's young protege, Kevin Curtis, are striking in their banality - he's just some guy singing over karaoke tapes, occasionally adopting ludicrous fake mustaches. He gets paid to do this stuff? Jeez, I could do that. Curtis needs to get together with Alberg, so he can learn a thing or two about originality. They could cover "House of the Ricin Sun." Or Johnny Cash's "Five Feet High and Ricin." I got a million of 'em , folks!

Yes, maybe i will, James. On his site:http://lighthouse7.tripod.com/ABOUTRMA.HTML

he says he's selling it for $8, and there's an email address towards the lower left of the page, so I guess you could write to him to inquire about purchases. What if he doesn't like me posting his album he's trying to sell? Do I wanna mess with a ricin-maker?!